Monthly archive : "January, 2013"

  Kourosh Ziabari - Is military prowess and political dominance everlasting and eternal? The answer is certainly a big “no”, regardless of which power we are talking about. A brief study of the geopolitical developments of the past few centuries indicate that even the largest and most prosperous nations failed to survive in the face of social and cultural waves that have swept away their military and political dominance and hegemony. Missiles, nuclear bombs and numerous colonies couldn’t save the deceased empires of our time, and they cannot do so in the future, as well. But what happens to our world if today’s number one superpower which has an almost unchallenged and matchless economic, political and military supremacy...

  Kourosh Ziabari - The assumption that the United States is experiencing a political decline and its economic and military power is also on the wane has many proponents and critics. Many academicians argue that the United States has been facing a serious political downfall following the World War II and it cannot exert influence over so many countries as the world nations have woken up to the urgent need for a structural revision of their relations and interactions with the United States as a hegemon, and don’t tolerate its absolute and uncontested dominance anymore. These thinkers believe that the U.S. has also undergone economic setbacks, especially following the late-2000s economic crisis. However, there is another group...

  Kourosh Ziabari - The fact that new contenders have been challenging the economic and political absolutism of the United States for several decades is almost clear to all of those who have been closely monitoring the developments of the American society and the U.S. foreign policy. Japan has risen from the ashes of the World War II, has consigned to oblivion the deadly atomic bombardments of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and is now featuring itself as one of the world’s largest economic powers. China has made such enormous economic progress that is predicted to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy no later than 2020. Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and Iran, among a number of other countries are also...

  Kourosh Ziabari - The concept of imperialism and the issue of the global political, economic and cultural dominance and hegemony of the United States are complicated and subtle questions which should be dealt with carefully and eruditely. It’s not possible to tackle this issue in a disorganized and incompetent manner. It should be noted that the hegemony of the United States has to be studied in terms of its military, political, social, cultural, industrial and media aspects and all of these aspects need elaborate and detailed discussions to be completely clarified, both to the academics and the public. Following the conclusion of the World War II, the phenomenon of the plurality of political powers started to emerge...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Mark Foster Gage is the founding partner of Gage/Clemenceau Architects in New York City and a professor of architecture at the Yale School of Architecture. His work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum in Berlin. Gage/Clemenceau Architects was recently selected as one of the architecture firms to represent the United States in the 2010 Beijing International Biennale. Mr. Gage’s firm received an AIA New Practices citation in 2006 and was chosen as a finalist in the Museum of Modern Art/PS1 Young Architects Program in 2007. In 2008 he was selected as a winner of the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Today, most of the international relations analysts and experts consider China as the world’s second political and economic power after the United States. China came second in the International Monetary Fund’s 2011 ranking of countries by GDP (nominal) and is one of the main producers of agricultural products, industrial commodities and the world’s number one exporter of goods to other nations. China is also the United States’ first trading partner and at the same time, it’s major economic and political competitor. The politics of China are thoroughly complicated and in most cases, incomprehensible. National interests define the limits of China’s foreign policy while some traces of opposition to the Western...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Today even the most optimistic advocates of the U.S. foreign policy are confessing that the aggressive attitude of the consecutive U.S. administrations in the recent decades have contributed to the weakening and undermining of the American Empire, portraying a detestable image of the cultural hallmarks, lifestyle and socioeconomic values of the United States. In Iran Review, we have started a project to discuss the issue of the future of U.S. Empire and the survival of imperialism with the world’s renowned political scientists and public intellectuals. We reflect the viewpoints and ideas of world’s academics regarding the decline of the U.S. Empire, and whether they agree or disagree with these...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Alexander Stille is a renowned American journalist and university professor. His father, Ugo Stille, was a renowned Italian journalist and former editor of the Milan-based leading daily Corriere della Sera. Alexander Stille graduated from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is currently working there as a professor of journalism. He has written extensively on Italy domestic and foreign policies and has been a vocal critic of the former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, accusing him of corruption, accumulating illegitimate power and creating an unrivaled and uncontested media monopoly in the country. Stille has also written about the role of the Sicilian mafia in Italian politics and...

Kourosh Ziabari - Deepak Tripathi is a British historian, journalist and researcher who specializes in South and West Asia affairs, terrorism and the United States foreign policy. He was born into a political family in Unnao, the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. His grandfather, Pandit Vishwambhar Dayal Tripathi, was a prominent leader in the Indian independence movement and Member of the Constituent Assembly and later the Indian Parliament. Deepak Tripathi worked with BBC for almost 23 years and ended up his cooperation with the British broadcaster in 2000. During these years, he served as a South Asia specialist and correspondent, Afghanistan correspondent and Syria, Nepal, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka reporter. He has also been a BBC...

Kourosh Ziabari - The inhumane sanctions of the United States and its European allies against Iran know no boundaries. At the cost of the lives of thousands of Iranian patients suffering from different types of cancer, thalassemia, hemophilia, HIV/Aids, psychiatric disorders and other diseases, the West has banned the export of life-saving medicines and medical equipments to Iran and this is deteriorating the lives of those patients who cannot find medicines needed for their survival. The companies that do business with Iran will be immediately penalized by the U.S. government and so far no exemptions have been made to ensure that ordinary Iranian citizens will at least get access to foodstuff, medicines and other humanitarian...

 Kourosh Ziabari - Christian Bromberger is globally renowned as a prolific and outstanding orientalist who has dedicated almost three decades of his life to research and study on the culture and civilization of the Near and Middle East.Fluent in English, Persian, Russian, Italian, Greek, and French, he has served several years as the Director of French Association of Iranology in Paris and currently holds the Professorship of Ethnology at the University of Aix En Provence.His latest research titled “the Interrelation of Crafts and Cultures in Guilan or the Exploration of a Society Through the Arts and Crafts”, which reveals some anthropological facts on the lifestyle of people at the North Iranian Province of Guilan, is...

Kourosh Ziabari - Just a few hours before the midnight deadline of May 26, 2011, the US President Barack Obama signed a 4-year extension of the controversial USA Patriot Act to prove that his strategic plans are not significantly different from those of his hawkish predecessor, George W. Bush, who showed to the international community the real face of the American democracy with his warmongering policies. Patriot Act is an Act of the US Congress which allows private security firms under the supervision of the government to monitor and search American citizens' phone conversations, email communications, medical, financial and official records to discover potential terrorism-related threats and foil the probable plots which can jeopardize...